Jofra Archer will be available for England from January

Due to the change in eligibility, rider Jofra Archer will be available for selection in England since he has completed his three years of residence © Getty

The General Jofra Archer of Susbad will be available for England from January after the Cricket Council of England and Wales has changed its eligibility rules.

The modification of the qualification criteria was approved by the ECB Council at a meeting held on Wednesday with the new requirements for men and women entered into force on January 1, 2019. They include a three-year residency provision, reduced from the previous seven-year level, for players who were not born in England or Wales.

That means that Archer, one of the most dynamic and promising multi-talented players in the game, will be available for England early next year and could be part of the team limited teams in England for their tour of the West Indies in February. After the announcement, he tweeted: "This may or may not happen, but I'd like to debut in front of my family."

Under the previous rules, Archer, 23, was born in Barbados, but has a British pbadport that would not have been available until the winter of 2022, because he had arrived in England after the Aged 18 and was required to abide by the seven-year residency provision.

The ECB says that the decision was made to bring their regulations meet the criteria of the ICC and offer a level of fairness to players affected by previous regulations. It is now possible that Archer will be included in the World Cup team of England next year, which will add considerably to the talent at their disposal.

The new eligibility criteria of the ECB for male and female players, as of 1 January 2019, are:

a) British citizenship and,

b) either born in England / Wales or 3 years of residence (a total of 210 days per year from April to March) and

c) did not play as a player local in international or national professional cricket in a full member country in the last 3 years

By way of comparison, the current eligibility criteria of all players at the ICC are as follows :

(a) British citizenship; or

(b) Born in England / Wales; or

c) 3 years of residence (on a continuous basis) and not having played for another full member country in the last 3 years

Criteria eligibility of the ECB for male players were previously: [19659007] a) British citizenship; and

(b) was born in England / Wales, that is 7 years of residence if he leaves a full member county and arrives after 18, or 4 years if he leaves an badociated county or arrives before 18 years (residence = 210 days / year April-March); and

(c) Does not play as a local international or national professional cricket player in a full member country for 4/7 years